I always don’t understand this argument? By this logic, should every companies publicise their trade secrets and redact all the copyright and patents to maintain a dominant market position?
That would be a reasonable strategy. Businesses built on trade secrets are quite workable but strategically weak because if the secret gets rediscovered they have a real problem. It is better to use a strategy of real advantages. And there are some really interesting case studies here the big tech companies actually rely from an environment where open source is big.
The real issue with IP is that it is an artificial government monopoly and largely unjustified. As we see in China, if you want to grow at maximum speed it makes more sense to operate without respect for IP law because it is an anchor. We saw something similar in the US where it was the in-practice failure of IP law to be executed that allowed the software ecosystem to thrive. Banning people from implementing good ideas has devastating economic consequences.
You're missing a few components here: time and originator investment.
No advantage, resources aside, is permanently durable. Most are instead temporary advantages -- advantages when you have a technology but your peers do not. IP enforcement is one tool to maintain that window of advantage.
China, like US before it, grew at maximum speed when it was reverse engineering already discovered technologies and applying them.
Like the US, it has already begun to pivot towards IP-enforcement, as it begins to originate novel technologies. To do otherwise is to pretend that copying competitors' discoveries and making them yourself cost the same -- and it very much doesn't.
roenxi|1 year ago
The real issue with IP is that it is an artificial government monopoly and largely unjustified. As we see in China, if you want to grow at maximum speed it makes more sense to operate without respect for IP law because it is an anchor. We saw something similar in the US where it was the in-practice failure of IP law to be executed that allowed the software ecosystem to thrive. Banning people from implementing good ideas has devastating economic consequences.
ethbr1|1 year ago
No advantage, resources aside, is permanently durable. Most are instead temporary advantages -- advantages when you have a technology but your peers do not. IP enforcement is one tool to maintain that window of advantage.
China, like US before it, grew at maximum speed when it was reverse engineering already discovered technologies and applying them.
Like the US, it has already begun to pivot towards IP-enforcement, as it begins to originate novel technologies. To do otherwise is to pretend that copying competitors' discoveries and making them yourself cost the same -- and it very much doesn't.